The Black Panther

by bored411

He was too close. My senses were in overdrive. My eyes were seeing red and flashbacks to the war and my time in Korea. Next thing I know, I was jumping up and pinning Sherlock to the floor in seconds with a switch blade at his throat...'Those jerks have done it now. They're gonna regret trying to kill me.' OCxSherlock

4. Chapter 4

Thanks again to my two reviews and 3 followers ^^ Here's the next chapter and I left it off at a bit of a cliffy. ;) Please review!

---

"How many murders is it gonna take before you start believing that this maniac's out there." Dimmock ignored John and he quickly got frustrated. "A young girl was gunned down tonight. That's three victims in three days. You're supposed to be finding him."

Sherlock interrupted before John could go any further.

"Brian Lukis and Eddie Van Coon were working for a gang. A gang of international smugglers. A gang called the Black Lotus operating here in London, right under your nose."

There was a pause, when Dimmock finally responded.

"Can you prove that?"

"Bet your damn job we can."

I said with a large smirk. The look on his face was priceless.

Next thing I know, we're all in a cafeteria and Sherlock walks over to a young woman who's debating on the pork or pasta. Sherlock of course, immediately calls her out on it.

"This place is never gonna trouble Egon Ronay, is it? I'd stick with the pasta. Won't be doing roast pork; not with your slicing up cadavers."

Oh, she must be the morgue worker here. Has a bit of a fancy for Sherlock too it seems. Too bad he's to thick to see it.

"What are you having?"

"Don't eat while I'm working. Digesting slows me down."

"So you're working here tonight?"

"Need to examine some bodies."

"Some?"

"Eddie Van Coon and Brian Lukis."

She looked down at her clipboard. "They're on my list."

"Could you wheel them out again for me?"

"W-Well, their paperwork's already gone through."

Sherlock paused for a moment and I quickly saw his acting face go on. Oh no. Maybe he does know about her feelings for him. What the devil's he going to do to get his way this time? He pointed to her hair and began his compliments.

"You changed your hair."

"What?"

"The style. It's usually parted in the middle."

"Yes, well…"

"Well, it's good. It, Um…suits you better this way."

My eyes widened as the woman flushed slightly and led us to the morgue. I looked over at Sherlock and he raised a brow at me.

"What?"

"You just seduced her to get her to do what you want."

"Seduced? No, merely…won over; deluded."

I shook my head in part disgust and part awe. I know my job involved doing things like that, but wow Sherlock. Now only that, but it was good. When we entered the morgue, the young woman had already pulled out the bodies and began unzipping them as Sherlock announced,

"We just need to see the feet."

"The feet?"

"Yes. Do you mind if we have a look at them?" She unzipped the bags and showed the tattoo on the heel. "Now Van Coon." The same was done for him and Sherlock turned to Dimmock.

"So…"

"So either these two men decided to go and visit the same Chinese tattoo parlor, or I'm telling the truth."

Dimmock knew he had lost and relented.

"What do you want?"

"I want every book from Lukis' apartment and Van Coon's."

"Their books?"

I sighed, knowing I wasn't going to be getting much sleep tonight either and soon we were back in Sherlock's flat. John was still shaken over Soo Lin's death, but he looked over at me from his chair.

"How's your throat?"

"Better. The swellings gone down and it doesn't hurt as much, so I'll live."

Unlike Zhi Zhu when I finish him.

"It's not just a criminal organization. It's a cult."

"What gave you that idea, Sherlock? Was it when Soo Lin's brother was corrupted or when they started killing people off?"

"Dani."

John gave me an exhausted look and I rubbed my eyes with one hand. "Right. Sorry. Lack of sleep."

"I know what you mean…but Sherlock? She did give us a name."

"Yes. Shan. General Shan."

"We're still not closer to finding them."

"Wrong. We've got almost all we need to know. She gave us most of the missing pieces." He suddenly realized something. "Why did he need his sister? Why did he need her expertise?"

"Because she worked at the museum."

"Exactly."

"Ancient Chinese relics. It's what they specialize in aside from the drug market. They steal them from China, bring them here, and sell them. Typical of a smuggling group."

I turned John's laptop that I had been borrowing and showed them the screen which had a list of Chinese relics that had been sold here in the past year or so. Sherlock took it from me and gave me a scrutinizing glance.

"How do you keep finding these things? First the numbers, then you speaking Chinese. You also know about smugglers and how they work as well as the zishā tea pots and the Tong. You're not just a mere traveler who was in Afghanistan during the war…You're a Chinese smuggler."

I laughed. Just full out laughed and John looked between the two of us as he tried to figure out what he should be doing.

"Sorry, no. I'm not a smuggler as you had hoped, Sherlock. I was, however, in China for a prolonged period of time during my travels. I wasn't in the best of shape and stayed with a Buddhist monk who taught me Chinese and owned a zishā tea set. Crazy old man had me learn how to make tea and lectured me day in and day out about old Chinese relics until I was healthy enough to leave."

"That still doesn't explain how you know about the smugglers."

"It was the Monk. He used to be a smuggler and he told me tales like an old grandfather about how he did it for survival and how the group tried to kill him when he finally gained his freedom. The only reason he was even still alive was because he was nearly killed and managed to be saved by yet another monk. He always said I used to remind him of himself. After he was saved, he took over after that monk and gained a new identity so to speak."

"What's his name?"

I gave Sherlock a disbelieving look. "What? You don't believe me?" He gave me a glare in return. "Fine. I'll do you one better. Here."

I handed him my phone and showed him and John the photograph of an elderly monk smiling at the camera while I stood next to him; holding my hand behind his bald head like bunny ears. Sherlock seemed satisfied for now, but I could still see how much he wanted to find out more about me. Turning to John he tossed Van Coon and Lukis' printed diary pages at him.

"Find the dates they went to China and I'll see if they coincide with the auction dates."

They did and suddenly there was a knock on the door and Mrs. Hudson walked in.

"Oh, hello Dani. Surprising to see you up here. I hope the boys aren't giving you any trouble."

"Not at all, Mrs. Hudson."

Sherlock cleared his throat and Mrs. Hudson turned to him. "Ah, right. Are we collecting for a charity, Sherlock? A young man's outside with crates of books."

I stood up and brushed nonexistent dirt off my pants. "I'll help them bring them in."

"Why? Let them do all the dirty work."

"Really, Sherlock? I may be a woman, but I've taken down men five times my size barehanded so I think a little amount of boxes will be fine. Besides, I helped build bridges in Singapore."

"And yet you couldn't take down Zhi Zhu when he tried to strangle you?"

I spun around and glared at him. "If you hadn't shouted out our position I wouldn't have had to even deal with him. He was in my blind spot and caught me by surprise. It's not like you did any better. I at least got a few hits in."

With that, I walked out and helped the officers bring in the boxes, grumbling to myself the whole time. Stupid, obnoxious, genius. Get a life and stop trying to figure out mine. I already know it's my own fault for getting strangled. I let my guard down when I shouldn't have, breaking one of my own rules, and I don't need you to sit there and act like a pompous jerk by telling me so. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I growled at them.

"What?!"

There before me, stood Mrs. Hudson; eyes wide and panicking. I immediately put my box down in the middle of the hallway.

"Ah, geeze, Mrs. Hudson. I'm so sorry! It's just-I've just-" I sighed. "I've just had a really bad day. I didn't mean to take it out on you, Mrs. Hudson. I'm sorry."

Her face relaxed and she smiled while waving her hand.

"No, no, dear. It's fine. I understand. Being around Sherlock does that to you. I'm surprised you haven't packed up your things and fled the country already."

She laughed it off and I chuckled a bit too. "I wouldn't do that, Mrs. Hudson. I couldn't possibly leave you here alone with him."

We both had a good laugh at that, until Sherlock's shout came from up the stairs.

"Dani!"

I rolled my eyes and picked up the box. "Gotta go see what he wants, Mrs. Hudson. It was nice talking to you."

"You too, dear. I'll bring you up some tea later, but just this once. I'm not your house keeper."

I nodded and went back up the stairs, dropping off the box and listening to Sherlock and John.

"So the numbers are references."

"To books."

I caught on. "Each pair of numbers is a page and the word on that page."

"Okay, so what's the message?"

"Depends on the book. That's the cunning of book code. It has to be one they both own."

"Okay fine. Well this shouldn't take too long, should it."

John was all sarcasm and we all opened a box and began taking out the books inside. Sherlock took Lukis' while John and I took Van Coon's. We had just started, when Dimmock came in the room holding an evidence bag full of papers.

"We found these at the museum. Is this your writing?"

"We, uh, hoped Soo Lin could decipher it for us."

He nodded and set them down as he noticed us going through the large boxes of books.

"Anything else I could do? To assist you, I mean."

"Some silence right now would be marvelous."

I smirked and then I remembered something. "Hey Dimmock."

"Ah…yes, and you are?"

"Dani Evans, and I believe you might be needing this back." I tossed him something and he caught it, flipping it over to find his badge.

"Wha-How did you get this?"

"Magic."

I smirked devilishly and he walked off with a scowl, before I continued my book search. I grabbed a romantic, trash thriller that everyone would own and opened it to the fifteenth page. The first word was 'like' and I stacked it up in a pile of rejected books. Book after book we continued on doing this, every once in a while John and I switching so that I could sit down, but for the most part we weren't finding anything.

Soon, it was morning and I had just about fallen asleep standing up, having forgotten about resting my leg after five hours of nonstop reading. A watch alarm went off and I blinked wearily at John as he buried his head in his hands.

"Sorry. I've got to go to work. I'll…I'll see you later, Sherlock, Dani."

I nodded while Sherlock was completely ignorant as to what was going on. Finally, I began counted down to the last book and when I got to it, the word was 'but'. I sighed and collapsed in John's vacant chair.

"That was the last book, Sherlock."

He didn't answer and walked around for a moment. "A book that everybody would own."

He went over to his own bookshelf and pulled off a dictionary, a holy bible, and a few others. I groaned.

"Sherlock, that won't work. There's so many difference versions and translations of those that they wouldn't be able to all have the same one."

He blew me off, yet again and I just gave up. Then, my phone buzzed in my pocket, startling the crap out of me. After nearly jumping through the ceiling, I fumbled the phone out of my pocket and looked at the text.

Got your tickets. Even got you four. One for your date ;)

-N

I face palmed and got up to answer the door when someone knocked. Opening it, an average sized male was standing there. A mail delivery cap sat on his head over moppy brown hair and thin framed glasses rested on his nose below bright vivid green eyes.

"Hey Nick."

"Dani."

He passed over the envelope and I took it from him with a half hearted smile.

"Well, you look like crap."

"Got no sleep the past two days…and what did you mean by date?"

I glared at him and he just chuckled. "Your buddy John's got a date actually. I just like teasing you."

"Right. Well get out of here before your boss starts looking for you. I don't need him busting in my flat to talk to me again."

He laughed. "I remember when that happened! You nearly bashed his skull in with a sock full of butter and set him on fire with a super soaker!"

"Yeah…he still glares at me for that when I see him…So, tell him I said hi!"

I smiled brightly like a child and he mock saluted me.

"Yes, ma'am! Bye Dani!"

"Later, Nick."

I walked back inside and tossed the envelope at Sherlock, who caught it with ease. Blinking once at it, he looked up and me to question it.

"Just open it."

He did and pulled out the circus tickets I had asked Nick for, giving me a smile.

"Good job, Dani. Although I don't know why you got four."

"Hey, don't ask me. My informant says John's got-"

"I've got what?"

John had just walked in looking pleased, but Sherlock answered before I could tell him we knew he had a date. Sherlock probably just wants to mess with him.

"Nothing." Sherlock said. "I need to get some air. We're going out tonight."

"Actually, I've uh…got a date."

"What?"

I sighed. That's what I was trying to tell you, Sherlock.

"It's where two people who like each other go out and have fun?"

"That's what I was suggesting."

I paused in my mental musing and had to cover my mouth to keep from outright laughing at what Sherlock was suggesting.

"No it wasn't. At least I hope not."

I came up to John and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Where're you and the lucky lady going?"

"Cinema."

"Eh, dull, boring, predictable."

I rolled my eyes at Sherlock and snatched the envelope from him before he could say any more.

"Here John. I got this for you and your date. It's better than the cinema and you might as well go since I already bought you your tickets."

"You got this…for me? Wait…How did you know I had a date?"

I kind of looked away when he brought that up and began wandering the room.

"Dani? Are you…Are you spying on me?"

I turned around shocked. "What?! No! I mean…I may know someone who does but…"

John instantly directed his gaze to Sherlock who opened his mouth in fake surprise.

"Me? You think I did it? John, I…I'm appalled!"

I snickered and shook my head at John. "I'm not talking about Sherlock, but I wish you luck on your…date."

He obviously didn't like the way I said 'date' but he didn't have much of a choice, before he went off to get ready. As he did, Sherlock turned to me as I sat on the couch.

"So who is it that you have spying on us?"

"God, Sherlock. Not now, please?"

"Not until I get some answers."

I sighed, putting my head in my hands and grinding my knuckles against my temples.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because it'll compromise everything I've done and everything they've done as well as cause me to lose my informant when he loses his job for me telling you. I can't risk that, so just drop the subject, would ya? Besides, I'm absolutely positive you already know him."

He frowned at the lack of information and turned away, putting his hands in front of his mouth in a steeple position. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back to relax for a moment when he spoke again.

"Why aren't you getting ready?"

I knew he was talking about the circus, but just chose to ignore him.

"I've found most women dress up when they go out and yet, you haven't even considered it. Why?"

I opened one eye, silently wondering what possessed Sherlock to ask me something like this, as well as if this was his view on society. He just assumes everyone goes by the social norm, although whether that's due to what he observes or not is a mystery. I closed my eye again and formed an answer for him in my head before actually saying it.

"I'm not exactly the average woman, Sherlock. As you said before, I am uncomfortable with my body and dislike almost everything about it. Being feminine, to me, is a curse so I try to hide it behind my clothes and my attitude. Blatantly going out in a dress or anything similar is…unimaginable. I would do anything to go against it and I feel like…I don't even resemble a woman and would look like a man in drag if I actually did put on a dress. Therefore, I don't think about it and pull of the casual act of a man as best I can."

I sighed and stood up from the couch.

"Where are you going?"

I looked over at him, seeing the curious look behind his grey eyes and the absolute fascination he held in them. And there was something else. Something not as…concrete as the others. Almost like…empathy; like he understood the pain of being trapped in your own body. Blinking away from his gaze, I waved a hand over my shoulder.

"To take another pain pill. I'll wait for you outside."

And I walked out of the flat without another word.

---

"Hi. I have two tickets reserved for tonight."

"And what's the name?"

"Ah…Holmes."

The man at the box office flipped through some envelopes holding the tickets before turning back to John.

"Actually, I have…four in that name."

"No. I don't think so. We only booked two."

A voice came from behind them and John spun around to find Sherlock and Dani, rubbing the back of her head apologetically.

Actually, John, I got two more for Sherlock and I. He wanted to go and…well, here we are."

John was absolutely pissed and Dani quickly scampered up the stairs as Sherlock said a quick 'hello' to Sarah before following Dani. John begrudgingly paid the box office manager and Sarah asked him to wait for her while she went to the rest room. Dani and Sherlock, unfortunately, were cornered and had to listen as John chewed them out for what they had done.

"You couldn't of let me have just one night off."

"The Yellow Dragon Circus, in London for one night. It fits. The Tong sent an assassin to England."

"Dressed as a tightrope walker? Come on Sherlock. Behave!"

"We're looking for a killer who can climb. Who can shin up a rope. Where else can you find that kind of dexterity? Exit visas are scarce in China. They needed a pretty good reason to get out of that country. Now all I need is to have a quick look around the place-"

"Fine." John interrupted. "You do that. I'm going to take Sarah for a pint."

"I need your help!"

"You have Dani! Besides, I do have a couple of other things on my mind this evening."

"Like what?!"

God, Sherlock. For a genius, you can be really dense sometimes. Dani thought.

"Are you kidding?"

Sherlock rolled his head around and kept his voice down. "What's so important?"

"Sherlock, I have a date. You want to chase some killer while I'm trying ta-"

"What?!"

Dani spotted Sarah coming from the bathroom and tried to get John to shut up before he screwed up his date more than it already is; making a slashing motion across her neck.

"While I'm trying ta get off with Sarah!"

Too late. He turned and saw Sarah. "Heeeyyy…ready?"

"Yeah."

Sherlock went up first and then Dani went to, but John grabbed her shoulder and growled in her ear.

"Don't think you're getting out of this either. I know those tickets were preordered."

Dani winced and treaded up the stairs like a dejected puppy with her tail between her legs. When they reached the top, they all stood around a small ring lit up by candles and John turned back to them.

"You said 'circus'. This is not a circus. Look at the size of this crowd. Sherlock, this is…odd."

"This is not their day job."

"Oh, sorry. I forgot. They're not a circus, they're a gang of international smugglers."

A small tapping from a drum began and, as it got faster, a woman came out to the center of the ring. She was dressed in a bright, ornate red robes with a large headdress and lots of makeup. Larger drums began to play and the woman stepped over to a black cover, pulling it off to reveal an ancient Chinese ballista: a crossbow. Reaching down, she picked up an arrow and showed it to the crowd. It was loaded into the ballista and she dropped a feather into a bowl, launching the arrow into a wooden board. The arrow was removed, and a masked man steps forward and is chained to the board as Sherlock whispers about the act.

"Classic Chinese escapology act. The crossbow's on a delicate spring. The warrior has to escape his bonds before it fires."

John and Sarah return to gazing at the ballista as the woman puts another arrow in place and the warrior makes grunts and yells as his bonds are tightened. All the while Dani stands behind them, face pale as she tries to ignore the flashbacks. The clattering of chains as she fought against her bonds. The feeling of cold metal against her skin. The yells and shouts from herself and others as they are subjected to- A crash rings out and Dani returns to reality shaken. The Chinese woman holds up a small dagger and Sherlock begins explaining again.

"She splits the sand bag, the sand pours out, gradually the weight lowers into the bowl."

More grunts come from the escaping man and he barely makes it out of the chains as the shot fired. Unknown to John, Sherlock had grabbed Dani and dragged her backstage with him to help him search for evidence. In the dressing room area, Dani tries to overcome the memories and helps Sherlock search while the show continued outside. Risking a peak behind the curtain, Dani calls back to Sherlock.

"Found Zhi Zhu."

"Well, well."

The two of them are entranced for a moment by the flying acrobat, when the clacking of a door alerts them and they dash behind the rack of clothes. Sherlock covers Dani's mouth to silence her heavy breathing, and it takes every fiber of her being to not lash out and expose them both to the woman who'd just walked in. The woman soon leaves and Sherlock lets go of Dani to pick up a yellow aerosol can from a bag hidden behind the clothes.

"Found you."

Sherlock steps out with Dani right behind him as he tested the paint out on the mirror. It was the same exact paint as the one used in the ciphers and Sherlock grins before he notices something move in the mirror.

"Dani!"

Dani was being held with a sword at her throat by someone in a warrior mask and yet, she didn't look scared for a moment. She swiftly swung her arm back into the man's stomach, similar to how she had done to Zhi Zhu, then swung a high kick around which hit him in the upper arm instead of the head like she planned.

"Damn."

Sherlock pulled her back out of the sword's reach as the man slashed at her, and he engaged in fighting the man while she searched for a better weapon. The man was bulky and strong and, while she could fight him in hand-to-hand, in such close quarters and with him wielding a weapon she was out matched. Luckily, Sherlock was covered; using the aerosol can to block the sword and then to spray his assailant in the face when he kneed him in the stomach. Shoving the man down, Sherlock thought he was nearly done but the man flipped back up and kicked him out the curtain and into the ring.

People ran out screaming as the sword wielding man went after Sherlock and Dani jumped down into the ring distracting the man with different martial arts while Sherlock struggled to get up off the floor. John tried to help but instead took a good kick to the ribs and stumbled back. Dani then spotted Zhi Zhu and grew predatory, completely ignoring the other man until he hit her hard across the head with the hilt of the sword. She faltered and stumbled to the side as though in a drunken daze. She put a hand up to her head where she was hit and felt the blood dripping down towards her face. Standing up straight, she turned to the man with a bored expression.

"You shouldn't have done that." The startled man took a step back trying to figure out how she was still standing. "After all…Wo Shi HeiBao." (I am black panther.)

The man was absolutely frozen an stuttered. "H-Hēi bào."

Then, he was struck down by Sarah who was wielding one of the arrows used in the crossbow demonstration, surprising Dani. Sherlock sits up and pulls the shoe off of the man, revealing the black lotus tattoo on his heel. Standing up, he starts heading for the exit as Sarah helps John out and Dani gives the man on the ground on last kick to the face.

"Come on. Let's go."

---

I was barely functioning as we walked into the police station, having bought a driving cap off the cab driver to cover up any blood in my hair after Sherlock had gotten out. I was surprised he hadn't notice this whole time, but it was dark and he was too focused on informing the police about catching the gang. Walking into the office, Dimmock's voice bounced painfully off the inner workings of my mind.

"I sent a couple of cars. The old hall is totally deserted"

"Look. I saw the mark in the circus. The tattoo we saw on the two bodies. The mark of the Tong."

John continued before Sherlock chewed Dimmock's head off. "Lukis and Van Coon were part of their smuggling operation. Now, one of them stole something while they were in China; something valuable."

"These circus performers were gang members, sent here to get it back."

"Get what back?"

Sherlock frowned and John finally told Dimmock that we didn't know.

"You don't know. Mr. Holmes, I've done everything you've asked. Lestrade seems to think you're worth something. I gave the order for a raid. Please tell me I'll have something to show for it, other than a massive bill for overtime."

We had nothing so we left and went back to Baker Street, defeated.

"They'll be back in China by tomorrow."

"No they won't. They won't leave until they have what they came for, John."

"Dani's right. We need to find their hideout. Their rendezvous."

I collapsed on the couch and held my head as I tried to keep the world from spinning; the edges already getting fuzzy.

"Somewhere in this message it must tell us."

"Well, then perhaps I shall leave you to it."

I had completely forgotten Sarah was there and it seemed the others did too. Then Sherlock and John both spoke at the same time, making my already muddled head worse.

"No, no. You don't have to go. Does she? No. You can stay."-"Yes. It'd be better to study if you left right now."

"He's kidding. Please stay if you'd like."

It was quiet for a moment and I thought that was the end of it, but Sarah obviously didn't.

"Is it just me, or is anyone else starving?"

"Oh God."

I sigh at both Sherlock and John's annoying date while John went off to find something to give her.

"John! Can you get me some tea?! And those fingers if you have a chance!"

"Fingers?"

I waved Sarah off and John came back in the room with my frozen fingers.

"You were hurt, Dani?"

"No. Nu-uh. Nope. Just…my neck bothering me."

He didn't seem convinced but went back to the kitchen nonetheless while Sarah walked around.

"So this is what you do, you and John. You solve puzzles for a living."

"Consulting detective…and Dani is involved as well."

"Thanks for remembering me." I muttered sarcastically.

Sarah went over towards Sherlock and I could sense his tension a mile away. Well, this should be good. Sherlock versus a normal, if not annoying, woman. Where's my tea?

"What are these squiggles?"

"They're numbers. An ancient Chinese dialect."

"Oh, right. Well, pst. I guess I should've known that."

Sarah picked up the evidence bag we had received from Dimmock and I nearly shot up from my seat. Ah! She's touching Sherlock's stuff! That's like at the top of 'The Things That Will Make Sherlock Angry' list!

"So these numbers, it's a cipher."

"Exactly."

"And each pair of numbers is a word."

Now how the devil- "How did you know that?"

"Well, two words have already been translated, here."

This time I did stand up and instantly regretted it as my vision swayed and I ran into one of the stacks of book boxes. Refocusing, I hobbled over to Sherlock as he called John.

"John, look at this! Soo Lin, at the museum, she started to translate the code for us. We didn't see it…Nine…Mill."

"That mean 'millions'?"

"Nine million quid, for what? We need to know the end of this sentence."

Sherlock grabbed his coat and began heading towards the door with the paper.

"Where are you going?"

"To the museum. To the restoration room. Agh, we must've been staring right at it!"

"At what?"

"The book, John! The book! The key to cracking the cipher! Soo Lin used it to do this whilst we were running around the gallery! She started to translate the code! Must be on her desk!"

All of his yelling had my head ringing like the after effects of a hand grenade. I delicately made my way back to the couch and actually laid down this time.

"Um, Dani? You're not going with Sherlock?"

"No. Don't mind me, I'll be sleeping."

"Ah, alright then. Well, then Sarah, what do you think so far? Was it okay?"

"Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean…Well, a quiet night in is jus-just what the doctor ordered. Uh, I mean I'd love to go out for the evening and wrestle a few Chinese gangsters. You know, generally, but a girl can get too much."

There was a slight awkward silence following her failed attempt at a joke, before John broke it by offering to order take-away. While we were waiting, a knock came to the door and John spoke up.

"Well, blimey that was quick. I'll just pop down."

"Do you want me to…lay the table?"

"Um, eat off tray?"

"Yeah."

Something was wrong. I couldn't figure it out with my head pounding, but then suddenly everything hit me all at once. The woman I saw taking photos is the same woman who led the circus performance tonight. She was the first gone too. General Shan! She was targeting us the moment we stuck our noses too deep! And the take-away place is twenty minutes from here. It's only been ten at most! John! I sat up way too quickly for my body's liking, but forced myself to stumble over to the door; texting Sherlock the whole way. Sarah immediately was at my side and trying to stop me.

"W-What are you doing?!"

"John! He's in trouble! The take-away is twenty minutes away! General Shan she-"

I was cut off as I opened the door and hit across the head in the same place as before. The last sound I heard being Sarah's muffled scream before I dropped my phone and everything went black.